Japan Society proudly presents a staged reading of Dancing with the Bird by Japanese playwright Seiji Nozoe, translated and directed by New York-based theater artist James Yaegashi. As part of Japan Society's 2014-15 Performing Arts Season, Dancing with the Bird marks the 11th installment of the Society's annual Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation. The Play Reading Series reflects a continued commitment to introduce the wide range of contemporary Japanese plays to American audiences, seeding possibilities for development of American productions of Japanese plays. This event takes place Monday, March 9 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street).
With her hair stuck in a fan nearly eight feet in the air, a young woman finds herself in a most peculiar predicament when a stranger comes to her rescue. This Hitchcock-esque cliffhanger is written by Kishida Kunio Award-winning playwright/director Seiji Nozoe, whose plays weave unusual but convincing realities as backdrops to amusing explorations of the inner self. New York-based director, actor and filmmaker James Yaegashi translates the play and leads a cast of American actors in this minimalist three-person play that unleashes a world of emotion. Playwright Seiji Nozoe will travel to New York and join in a post-performance conversation with the director and audience. Dancing with the Bird features appearances by Peter Kim, Jennifer Ikeda and Kamel Boutros. The play premiered in Japan in 2009.
Seiji Nozoe is a writer, director and actor and leading figure in Japan's contemporary performing arts scene. Nozoe was born in Okayama Prefecture in 1975 and lived in the United States until the age of eight. Nozoe studied theater at Aoyama Gakuin University and started his company Haegiwa in 1999 after participating in a seminar taught by the renowned Japanese theater director Matsuo Suzuki. Nozoe writes and directs all of Haegiwa's productions and also appears as an actor in the productions. His plays are praised for their depictions of the inner self, interjected with surreal humor and unusual realities. Nozoe's play Harubaru-Hasumukai no share (2010) was selected as a finalist for the 55th Kishida Kunio Award and the following year, his play oo Toaru Fukei (2011) was selected as the winner of the 56th Kishida Kunio Award. He is active as a writer of scripts for radio and movies and as an actor. In recent years, Nozoe has expanded his scope, directing foreign plays, touring works to senior citizen centers, producing works throughout Japan and creating video work.
Son of an American mother and a Japanese father,
James Yaegashi was born and raised in Japan. After receiving an MFA in acting and directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Yaegashi moved to New York in 1998. For the stage, Yaegashi directed My Friend Has Come for the Asian American Writers Workshop and Ready or Not and It's a Jungle Out There for the 52nd Street Project Playmaking series. He also conceived the theater benefit "SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan" which took place on March 11, 2012, the one-year anniversary of the disasters in Japan, with participation from nearly 100 theaters, internationally. He made his filmmaking debut in 2012 with Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty, which won Best Feature in the DIY film competition at the Northside Festival, a trendsetter art festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Yaegashi's film credits as an actor include Man on a Ledge, The Collective, Noise, Superheroes, 13 Conversations About One Thing, Lisa Picard is Famous, The Thomas Crown Affair and Spin the Bottle. He has originated many roles on and Off-Broadway including
Sarah Ruhl's The Oldest Boy,
Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out (2003 Tony Award for Best Play), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (with
Jill Clayburgh and
Matthew Morrison),
John Guare's A Few Stout Individuals and
Julia Cho's Durango. His stage credits also include characters in world-premiere stage adaptations of literary classics such as Yunioshi in
Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's on Broadway and Toru in
Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Edinburgh Int'l Festival and the Singapore Arts Festival.
Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, Japan Society has introduced nearly 700 of Japan's finest performing arts to an extensive American audience. Programs range from the traditional arts of noh, kyogen, bunraku and kabuki to cutting-edge theater, dance and music. The Program also commissions new works to non-Japanese artists, produces national tours, organizes residency programs for American and Japanese artists and develops and distributes educational programs.
Japan Society's 2014-15 Performing Arts Season features two large-scale series of events: in music, The Shamisen Sessions (Fall 2014) and Stories from the War: Reflecting on WWII through Theater, a series of theater events marking the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII (Spring 2015). The Society-wide series Stories from the War launched with the theater production Miwa Yanagi's Zero Hour: Tokyo Rose's Last Tape in January. Following the Annual Play Reading Series the Stories from the War series continues with Michiko Godai's Yokohama Rosa (April) and New and Traditional Noh a double-bill featuring Holy Mother in Nagasaki and Kiyotsune (May). The Performing Arts season concludes with the New York Premiere of Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug's OQ, a Japan Society commission (June).
Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.
Tickets are $12/$9 Japan Society members. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (212) 715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (M-F 11:00 AM-6:00 PM and Sat-Sun 11:00 AM-5:00 PM). Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street). For more information call (212) 832-1155 or visit
www.japansociety.org.
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